Knights and Castles
The term "knight" originates from the Anglo-Saxon name for a boy: "cniht".
Indeed, most early knights were not much more than hired "boys" who performed
military service and took oaths of loyalty to any well-to-do nobleman or warlord
offering the most promise of money or war booty.
In the chaos and danger of post-Roman Western Europe, the
population had very little organized governmental protection from
brigands and conquering warrior bands. Knowing there was
safety in numbers, local lords (who could afford it) gathered
around them young, fighting-age men to fend off rebellious
vassals or conquering neighbors. These men, in turn, were
rewarded with war booty for their service and loyalty. Soon,
grants of land were made so the young soldiers could receive an
income from those lands and afford the high cost of outfitting themselves with the
accoutrements of war, such as horses, armor, and weapons. The era of the
medieval knight had begun.
It wasn't long before some knights began to treat their land grants as hereditary
rights (usually transferring ownership to the eldest son upon death), thus beginning
the rise of knights as a "landed" class whose importance went beyond simply being
a military "free-agent". Knights soon found themselves involved in local politics, the
dispensation of justice, and numerous other required tasks for their lord. The
knight's effectiveness depended greatly on his ability to
stay mounted on his horse during combat. With the
advent of the stirrup during the 8th and 9th centuries, a
man could brace himself on horseback as he charged the
ranks of his enemy, transferring the power of man and
charging horse onto his opponent. This "shock" combat
by mounted men armed with a spear or couched lance,
and protected with armor, proved a powerful military
innovation.
Training for knighthood during medieval times usually
began at an early age. Often the prospective knight was sent
to live with a relative or lord who had the resources to train
the young boy in use of weapons and, most importantly, the
skills to handle a horse in combat. A knight-in-training would
often serve as a squire (assistant) for an established knight,
attending his needs, helping him don his armor, and making
ready his horse and weapons. Once his training was
completed and he reached "fighting age" (usually around 1620 years old), he would ceremoniously become a full-fledged
knight. The ceremony became more elaborate as the Middle
Ages progressed, until only the richest nobles or a king could afford to "knight"
someone.
The new knight now served his lord (which may or may not be
the king himself), bound to offer military service up to 40 days a
year in peace time, more, as needed, in war time. Military duties
included castle guard, serving in the lord's "bodyguard", and
participating in battle. Apart from military duties the knight could
also participate in administering justice (as part of assizes--a medieval form of our
modern juries), manage his estates (which was his prime source of income), and
continue to hone his combat skills in tournament. The tournament in the early
Middle Ages originated as a meleé, resembling actual combat in groups that could
result in injuries or even death. Men were taken
hostage and held for ransom, horses and armor
confiscated by the captors. As lords and
churchmen grew concerned over this senseless
loss of life and resources, new regulations and
safety measures were put into effect. The meleé
was replaced by individual combat events
(among them the joust), and new innovations in
armor specifically designed for the tournament
made it somewhat safer.
Medieval tournaments were a great form of entertainment, enjoyed by both
commoners and nobles. Dances and parties became standard nighttime activities
once the ladies joined the spectators on a regular basis. A rich noble would sponsor
a tournament and supply the purse for the prizes. It was a series of mounted and
armored contests, in which a number of combatants compete and the one that
prevailed through the final round or that finished with the best record was declared
the winner and is awarded the prize.
The joust became the centerpiece of all
tournaments. It was an idealized form of knightly
combat. In a joust, two knights charged each
other, armed with a lance, the object being to use
the lance to unhorse one's opponent. This event
became the premier tournament event because of
the dramatic effect of two mounted knights in full
armor charging each other at full speed. These
were pretty simple affairs. The two knights,
separated by 100-300 yards of open space, would charge each other until one was
unhorsed. From this came all the rules for awarding points and penalties for
"unchivalrous" behavior (like hurting the horses or hitting the other fellow when his
back was turned).Eventually, most jousts took place on what we now think of as
"the lists." This was a field up to 100 yards wide and 300 yards long. Running down
the middle of the lists was a five foot high wooden fence called "the tilt."
The Knights
Knights were not the only means of protection during the Middle Ages. Large
stone castles were built in Europe from about the 1100’s to about the 1500’s. These
huge buildings served not only to defend the country from foreign invaders but as
the basic tool in preserving the king’s and the nobles’ power over the land.
The castle was both a residence for the lord and his
family, and a fortification. It was a strong place for the
lord to defend himself against his enemies (and the
king’s enemies, and his overlord’s enemies), a safe
place for him and his knights to return to, and a place
to live which emphasized his power. A few heavily
armed knights could control a large area, if there was
no organized army to go against them. Not only did
knights fight against foreign enemies, they fought a lot
against each other, and they put down rebellions among the peasants. Showing
that you had a lot of power sometimes made actual fighting unnecessary. In
Britain, many of the castles are along borders, to stop raids by the Welsh and the
Scots, and as a basis for raiding in return.
Stone and wood were about the only building materials available. Slate and
thatch (bundles of reeds or other plants in a thick bundle) were used for roofs, but
not for walls. Fortunately, northern Europe had large amounts of both wood and
stone. Wood didn’t last as long, but, worse, it could be set on fire by the other side.
Stone is very strong in compression (stone can hold up a great deal of weight).
Mortar and gravity kept the stones in place. Once a stone building is constructed, it
needs very little maintenance and lasts a long time. It is not, however, very
pleasant to live in—a stone castle is cold, damp and dark. Many pieces were added
to improve the castle as a residence.
Part of the purpose of a castle was to be
impressive, and to be an assertion of the
lord’s power over the area. It also served as
a warning to others who might want to take
over that part of the land. Since a feudal
lord was the vassal of the king, castles at
key points in the landscape showed how
powerful and in control the king was.
Sometimes an entire castle was covered
with a layer of whitewash to make it seem
even more splendid, especially if it was on a
hill, and seen from a distance. Pennants of
bright colors, with the lord’s symbol, would fly over the towers. If a tournament or
celebration was planned, bright flags might be hung from towers and doorways.
The knights and their servants and their mounts all had to eat, as did the lord,
his family, and his servants and officials, and their families. Many castles grew
certain types of food inside their walls, to add variety to the diet of those inside the
castle, but it was not nearly enough to feed the people in the castle, much less their
guests. Castles might have beehives, herb gardens, fruit trees or a fishpond.
Because the land inside the castle walls was not enough to feed all these people,
they got their food from the peasants who farmed outside, and from hunting. There
were restrictions on hunting by the peasants, and sometimes it was forbidden
entirely, so that the lord and his retainers would have plenty of game to hunt.
Hunting was also a major recreation for the lord and his men.
Castles were built to keep out enemies. When
an attack was expected, the drawbridge was raised,
the gates and portcullis were closed, and archers
were stationed on the towers. The walls were not
only high, in a well-planned castle, but they were
arranged as much as possible so that anyone
climbing the walls could be shot at from two
directions. Many castles have strange shapes
because the castle was designed to accommodate
the terrain, and to catch attackers in a cross fire.
The castle’s defenses invited a great deal of ingenuity
from the attackers. Rolling wooden towers, covered with
thick hides to stop arrows and kept wet so they could not
be set on fire, were brought up to the walls in an attack.
Sometimes they even worked. Catapults threw heavy
stones at the walls to make a breach or loads of rocks (or
diseased livestock, or fire bombs) over the walls. The
battering ram—generally used against a door—was an old
favorite.
Thoughts of different ‘siege engines’ were always on the minds of the castles’
designers. The castle was often built on a raised platform. Roads to the castle
angled and sloped to restrict the easy use of battering rams and the like. There was
often also the traditional moat (left behind from digging out the earth to make the
raised platform for the castle) and drawbridge, just to keep things interesting.
Another method of defeating a castle was laying siege to it, by trying to starve
out the inhabitants, or waiting until they ran out of water. If their water could be
poisoned, they had to surrender. A good well was extremely important to a castle.
The use of gunpowder made both castles and city walls much more vulnerable,
because cannon could knock down the stone walls. Before gunpowder, about the
only way to bring down a stone wall was the undermine it, that is, to dig a hole
under it. This would cause a portion of the wall to collapse into the hole beneath it.
This kind of digging was difficult, especially since the inhabitants of the castle would
be fighting to keep their enemies from doing it. (Pouring boiling water on them,
shooting at them with arrows, trying to set the shelter they had built over
themselves on fire—the usual). Some castles, or parts of castles, were built on solid
rock, so they could not be undermined. After gunpowder and cannons became
available, there was less point to a castle as a fortification
Castles